


Forever young

by Hawkeye_girl



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Awesome Clint Barton, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Child Abuse, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Deaf Clint Barton, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Foster Care, Friendship, Friendship/Love, High School, Hurt Clint Barton, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Male-Female Friendship, Natasha Romanov Feels, Natasha Romanov Has Issues, Natasha Romanov-centric, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Teenagers, Thor Needs a Hug, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 04:59:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18771700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkeye_girl/pseuds/Hawkeye_girl
Summary: Natasha Romanov is supposed to be the best. She is expected to be the best.It's the beginning if high school in the Shield institution for troubled kids. She is going to meet a few kids who are going to change her life forever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys !  
> I hope you'll like this story !  
> Don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment !  
> Love you  
> Hawkeye_girl

Natasha Romanov hated first days. First days when you have to make new friends, and adapt to your surroundings. First day of ballet classes, first day in a new city, first day in a new foster family,... But the worst one was first day of school. Especially if it was a new school.  
But she had no choice. Going to highschool for the first time implied to be in a new school. She hated being surrounded by people she didn’t know, in a place she didn’t know. She hated the unknown.  
And here she was, standing in front of that big, old, grey building. Shield’s highschool. She knew about that kind of highschool. Shield was a program for “troubled children”. This wasn’t the first time Natasha had been told she was a troubled child. But it was the first time she was sent in a specialized institution.  
The teenager rose her head, composing her mask. This had always been her greatest strength: pretending. Pretending she felt safe, pretending she was strong. Pretending she was someone else. When she had complete control over her face, she stepped inside of the building.  
It was full of people, quite a normal thing for a highschool. But that didn’t help the red-haired girl feeling better. So she kept walking forward, until she got to the classroom where she was supposed to be. It was empty. She was the first. Of course: she always had to be first. Otherwise, other people would not understand that she was the best. She needed to be the best. Or the foster family would be disappointed. And she would get hurt again. She could still hear the voices: “You are only here because of our kindness. Don’t disappoint us again or there will be more.” And then the blows came. Never on her face because people would have noticed, but on the back and in the ribs.  
She sat on the second row, in the middle. If she sat on the first row, people would pay too much attention to her. On the second row, she could listen just as well, without getting noticed by anyone else but by the teacher.  
A few minutes later, people started filling the room. It was nearly 8:30, time to start the lesson, when a boy barged into the room. The big bags under his eyes and his ruffled sandy blond hair clearly indicated that he hadn’t slept for all night. He swiftly took off his purple hoodie that, Natasha noticed, had dog hair on it.

“- Dammit”, muttered the boy under his breath, before he got on all fours on the ground, apparently looking for something.

“- Can I help you ?”, asked a brunette behind him.

The teenager didn’t reply. A few seconds later, he got back up with an exclamation of joy, apparently holding what he was looking for. When he turned around, Natasha saw what it was and understood why the boy hadn’t replied to the girl: it was a hearing aid. The kid quickly put it back into his ear.

“- Taking off your hoodie is very dangerous when you have hearing aids”, he declared to Natasha, half-joking.

He started heading for the last row, however all the seats had been taken while he had been looking for his hearing aids. The only seat left, much to Natasha’s despair, was right next to her.

“- Mind if I sit here ?”, asked the boy with a wink.

“- Do as you wish”, replied the girl, as politely as she could.

She really hoped that this boy wasn’t going to talk during the whole class.

“- I’m Clint, by the way !”

Well, apparently he was…  
Natasha let out a sigh of relief when the bell rang, announcing the beginning of the class. The teacher walked inside. He was very well-dressed, with a suit and a tie. He had a small baldness but his piercing blue eyes showed how young his mind was. The moment he stepped inside the room, every student stopped talking.

“- Good morning everyone. I’m Phil Coulson. This year, I’m going to be your History teacher.”

Natasha quickly grabbed a pen and opened her notebook. She was ready. She was going to learn everything and be the best student. She was going to make her foster parents proud.  
Next to her, the boy yawned, grabbed a pair of scissors and started trying to write with them. When he realized it didn’t work, he shoved them back into his bag and took a pen.

“- God, I need coffee…”, he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

“- Yeah, tell me about it…”, grumbled back the teenager behind him.

He had brown eyes and brown tousled hair. His Black Sabbath shirt looked worn out, as if it had been used several times. Like Clint, he had big bags under his eyes and looked as sleep-deprived as the blond-haired kid.

“- I spent all night working on my motorcycle”, explained the boy. “I’m Tony, by the way.”

“- I’m Clint.”

Natasha didn’t say anything. She was trying to listen and she didn’t want to get in trouble.

“- What’s your name, pretty girl ?”, asked Tony in a whisper.

“- You really think I’m pretty ?”

“- Quiet, please !”

The trio jumped in surprise as Mister Coulson’s voice echoed in the classroom. The teacher looked at the kids in disapproval.

“- Miss Romanov, maybe you could answer my question ? What caused the beginning of the war for independence against the British ?”

Natasha inhaled deeply. She hadn’t heard what Coulson had said before, but she knew the answer:

“- The Americans wanted the same rights that the British had. They wanted a seat at the Parliament. The British refused, leading to the beginning of the war. The first battles were in Concord and Lexington. After several months…”

“- Thank you Miss Romanov, that will be all.”, interrupted the teacher, with a small smile of satisfaction and… pride ?

Natasha rose her head. She had made it. She had proven that she was smart. Perhaps tonight she wouldn’t get hit.

“- What are you waiting for ? Write down what Miss Romanov said.”, asked Coulson.

“- Well played, Romanov”, Tony congratulated her with a grin.

“- Mister Stark, I suggest you stay quiet ! Unless you want to stay here tonight after class ?”

The class fell silent again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm an idiot...  
> I kept receiving comments telling me to keep writing and i didn't understand why... until I noticed that i had indicated that this story only had one chapter: THIS IS A MISTAKE ! This story has several chapters !  
> Anyway, thank you for all your lovely commentss, they are really nice !  
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments !  
> Love you 3000 (oops)  
> Hawkeye_girl

Lunch break came quickly. Too quickly, according to Natasha. When she was in class, people wouldn’t talk to her, so she didn’t have to talk. But during lunch time, people usually asked her questions, wanted to know more about her, about who she was. Nobody could know who she was. Or people would find out how weak she was. All of the girl’s strength came from a mask. The second she started trusting someone, the mask fell down and people found out who she was and abandoned her. So it had been a few years since she had stopped trusting people. She preferred to be left alone, rather than being called a “freak” and being beaten up at school AND at home.  
When the bell rang, she slowly put her things back into her bag, taking her time. She got out of class last. She followed the flow of students to the room where they were supposed to have lunch. It was already half full. Natasha quickly cast a look around, noticing where the noisy talkative kids were, and where the calm ones were. She spotted a scrawny kid with brown hair and crooked glasses who was sitting alone on one side of the room, quietly eating his sandwich.  
The red-haired girl quickly made her decision and walked towards the table where the boy was sitting. She sat in front of him, opened her lunch box and started eating her meal. The foster family was kind to her: they gave her food if she did a good job. Yesterday, she had helped with the chores, so the mother had given her a sandwich. She even had the right to take an apple ! Natasha took another bite inn hre sandwich when the boy asked:

“- You aren’t the talkative type either, right ?”

The girl nodded, not bothering giving a verbal answer. That made the kid chuckle a bit.

“- I’m Bruce. Bruce Banner.”

He didn’t ask for Natasha’s name. So she didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to. The less people knew about her, the less they could hurt her.

“- Hey Romanov ! Miss me ?”

God, not him…   
Tony sat next to Bruce and started violently eating his lunch, as if he had not eaten for at least a week.

“- You’ve met Bruce ?”, asked the playboy with his mouth full. “We were next to each other during science class. He is really cool ! Not really talkative, but super smart ! Nearly smarter than me !”

“- You never know when to stop talking, do you ?”, asked Natasha, coldly.

Tony frowned for a split second before cracking another wide smile.

“- Well, you two never talk, so it looks like I have to talk for three people, right ?”

He sounded joyful, but Natasha had seen it. She had seen the pained look on Tony’s face when she had been cold to him. He was wearing a mask. He was hiding too.

“- I’m Natasha.”

She had blurted it out. Just like that. Just because she knew she had that common point with Tony, she had decided to trust him. The kid seemed confused for a minute, and opened his mouth but got interrupted.

“- Nice to meet you Natasha !”, declared Clint, who had come from behind.

The blond kid sat right next to her before starting his lunch while Tony kept staring at Natasha. She couldn’t help blushing a little under the force of his look so she hung her head a little, breaking eye contact.

“- Hey, you’re Bruce, right ?”, asked Clint, enthusiastic. “I noticed you in science class. I think Selvig fell in love with you. It’s like he has never seen a kid that smart !”

“- That exactly what I thought !”, assured Tony before high-fiving Clint.

Bruce glanced a little at Natasha, who knew exactly what that look meant: when would these two shut the hell up ?

“- Looks like we have some time before next class !”, exclaimed Tony. “You guys want to hang out in the park behind the school ?”

“- I have to reread my science lesson, I’m not sure I understood the part about…”

“- Come on, Brucie”, insisted Tony. “You understood everything ! Come with us !”

“- Yeah, that’ll be fun !”, declared Clint. “Nat, you are coming too, right ?”

Nat. He had said it so naturally. But it had made Natasha shiver. Because the last person who had called her that… The last person who had called her that had been her mom, just before she passed out.

“- I love you, Nat. Don’t you ever forget that.”

“- I won’t, mammouchka, I promise. I love you too.”

And then she was gone.

“- Hey, Romanov ! You okay ?”

Natasha rose her head and met Tony’s gaze. She blinked a few times, trying to recompose her mask.

“- Of course I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be ?”

Tony opened his mouth to reply, but got stopped as Clint “subtly” elbowed him in the ribs.

“- I think that was a rhetorical question…”

“- Oh, okay…”

The four kids stayed silent for a couple of minutes, when Bruce suddenly got up.

“- I have to do my homework.”, he declared before walking away.

“- But it’s first day of class !”, retorted Tony, at loss. “We don’t have homework yet !”

But Bruce didn’t answer. The playboy turned toward Clint and Natasha and sighed:

“- That’s too bad, he seems like a cool guy… Just really, really shy…”

“- We just need to give him some time. After all, this highschool is quite special…”, explained Clint.

“- I heard the sport teacher, Fury, only has one eye !”, whispered Tony. “Apparently he trusted someone who betrayed him…”

Natasha shivered again. That’s why she couldn’t trust anyone. She had been betrayed far too many times. She looked around her. She wanted to trust these kids. She wanted to get new friends. But she couldn’t trust them. Because why would they be any different than her previous friends who only pretended they liked her ? Who told her to her face to stop talking to them. In a blink of an eye, Natasha had been all alone in a sea of traitors.  
She used to believe in friendship. But everything had stopped when her former friends had started to bully her. She pretended she could take it. She pretended she was strong. But she wasn’t. It was just a mask.

“- Shit, it’s too late. We don’t have enough time to go to the park now…”, complained Tony, looking at his watch. “We have to go back to class.”

Natasha let out a little sigh of relief.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys !  
> Sorry, it's been a long time...  
> Anyway, new chapter ! Don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment if you liked this chapter !  
> I love you  
> Hawkeye_girl

The red-headed girl was staring at her bag. Inside were her jogging and her sweater she usually used for PE classes. But she didn’t want to take them out and put them on. First reason was that the clothes were the ones given by the foster family and were way too big for the young girl and were extremely old and ugly. Second reason was that if she changed clothes, then everyone in the locker room would notice the bruises on her back and ribs. And they would ask questions. So Natasha would have to lie. And she hated lying, even though she was good at that.  
Sighing, the teenager shook her head, grabbed her bag and entered the locker room. Most of the girls from her class were already inside, getting ready. The young girl slowly walked to a corner of the room and started changing her clothes as quickly as possible. Nobody could see.  
But she wasn’t fast enough. The moment she took off her shirt, the conversations stopped and Natasha could feel the girls’ gaze on her back. Pretending she didn’t notice, the teenager put on her old t-shirt and got out of the locker room, avoiding eye contact.  
Outside, Nick Fury was waiting, surrounded by a couple of other students wearing sport clothes. Fury was the PE teacher, a black bald man with an eyepatch. Even without the eyepatch, Natasha was sure he would still look scary. His posture and the confident look on his face showed that he wasn’t the kind of man who would take anyone’s bullshit.  
The young girl leaned against a wall, away from any other student. She wanted to be left alone.

“- Alright everyone !”, started Fury, once all of the students got ready. “We are going to start this year with a small competition, to see your level.”

Natasha rose her head. A competition. She was going to be the best. She had to. She quickly examined every boy and girl around her, to spot any sign of weakness she could use at her advantage.

“- You will have several tasks to accomplish”, continued the teacher. “In pairs.”

The teenager turned her head to stare at the director. This wasn’t possible. Giving her a partner would just slow her down, give her a weight. She was far better on her own.

“- So”, declared Nick. “I made the teams. Tony, you go with Bruce. Steve, with Loki. Wanda and Vision. Shuri with Pietro. Peter and Gamora together. Rocket and Groot. Scott and Hope. Bucky and Sam. Clint with Natasha. There you go.”

Natasha closed her eyes, feeling a migraine coming. She was with Clint. This kid was a mess, clumsy and constantly exhausted. And exhausting. There was no way she could win with this loser…

“- Okay, here is what you have to do: it’s an obstacle course.”, explained Fury. “Tony, Bruce, you go.”

The man took a chronometer out of his pocket, pressed a few buttons and announced:

“- May the odds ever be on your favour. On my command. Three… Two… One… GO !”

The two brown boys started racing as fast as they could, while the other students were watching. There were gaps, walls, fences,... Tony being quite small, some of the obstacles took a long time for him to get over them. A few minutes later, both of the kids came back running and sweating, their faces red.

“- 12 minutes”, wrote Fury. “Not bad, not bad… Steve and Loki, your turn.”

When the timer started, the two kids started running. Loki was quite fast, but Steve, as muscled as he was, wasn’t exactly quick. However, he was really good on the climbing walls, unlike Loki.

“- 13 minutes. Alright.”, stated Nick, scribbling something on his paper.

The other teenagers did the course, some better than the others. Natasha noticed that this kid named Pietro was incredibly fast. He and Shuri were the first ones to come back in 9 minutes, less than 10 minutes.

“- They don’t have the good strategy”, whispered someone in her ear.

The red-headed girl turned around and noticed Clint, who was trying to look as innocent as possible, which was nearly impossible since the boy always looked like someone who was going to prank everybody.

“- What do you mean ?”, she whispered back.

But she suddenly realized:

“- They play individually. We are supposed to help each other…”

“- Exactly”, smiled the blond kid, still whispering. “We will go a lot faster if e play as a team.”

The girl nodded. Maybe the boy wasn’t as stupid as she thought.

“- Clint ! Natasha ! Your turn !”

The two kids positioned themselves next to the teacher.

“- Three… Two… One… GO !”

Natasha started running, sensing Clint’s presence right next to her. They got to the first fence in no time. Quickly, Clint crossed his fingers and presented his hands so that the girl could put her feet on them and propel herself up. When she got on top, she grabbed her partner’s hand and pulled him up until they were both on the other side of the fence. They kept running until they arrived to a ditch. There was a rope hanging from the ceiling to get to the other side but it was out of the teenagers’ reach.  
Without even talking, the kids knew what to do. Natasha grabbed Clint’s hand and got closer and closer to the edge of the ditch. She leaned forward, still holding Clint’s hand so that she wouldn’t fall and grabbed the rope. Using it, she jumped to the other side and threw it back to Clint, who got to the other side too.  
The rest of the course went easily and soon they were both back next to the teacher and the group of students. Fury looked at the chronometer, nodded and wrote:

“- 8 minutes and 30 seconds. Congratulations, you won.”

“- YES !”, yelled Clint. “Well played, partner !”

Natasha smiled a little. This competition with Clint had been funny. However, that smile quickly disappeared when the boy vigorously patted her back. Right where the bruises were. Flinching, Natasha got away from Clint, who frowned.

“- Are you okay ?”, he asked with a concerned voice. “I… I didn’t think I would hurt you..”

“- It’s okay, I’m fine.”, replied the girl.

“- No, it’s not ! I hurt you… Let me look at your back…”

“- NO !”, yelled Natasha, earning a few interrogative looks from her classmates.

She whispered, extremely serious:

“- I’m fine. I don’t need you to look at my back. Please leave me alone.”

“- I just wanted to help you” offered the boy.

“- You can’t help me. No one can.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry, I know it's been a looooong time but...  
> I  
> AM  
> NOW  
> ENGAGED  
> So, yeah, my mind has been a bit busy lately XD  
> Anyway, enjoy, leave kudos and comments !  
> Love you !  
> Hawkeye_girl

Natasha let out a sigh of relief as the school bell rang, announcing the end of the first day of class. The waited a few seconds to let the flow of students get out of class. She didn’t like being too close to a lot of people, it made her feel trapped. Once the room was empty, she left too. Outside, some kids were greeted by their parents asking how the day had been going. Some were leaving on their own. Natasha noticed a small group of teenagers talking, not far from the exit. She recognized Shuri, Clint and Loki from her class. They were with three other boys, taller and older than them. One of them was blond and muscular, the other one was blond too, looking like an older Clint, and the third one was black and slim, looking almost feline.

“- Look, it’s her I’m talking about !”, suddenly yelled Clint, pointing at the red-haired girl. “It’s Natasha !”

The five other teenagers turned to look at the kid, who blushed and cast a murderous look at Clint, who didn’t notice a thing.

“- Natasha, this is my brother, Barney. This is Loki’s brother, Thor. And this is Shuri’s brother, T’challa.”

The girl politely smiled, even though she was really feeling like murdering the blond kid.

“- Thor and I know a place where we could hang out. Wanna join us ?”, asked Barney.

Natasha swallowed with some difficulty. There was no sign of deceit on the teenager’s face. However, she didn’t know him well enough to know if she could trust him.

“- I would love to, but I have to be back home before 6…”, frowned the girl, hoping it would be enough to get rid of the group.

“- But that let us plenty of time !”, exclaimed Clint, excitedly. “And we had so much fun together in PE class !”

“- You do ballet ?”, suddenly asked Shuri. 

“- Uh… Yeah...”, Natasha blushed. “Why ?”

“- It’s just that my brother used to have ballet classes. That’s how he got that suppleness. When I saw you in PE class, I immediately thought you did ballet. There is no way you would be that agile otherwise.”

“- You did ballet ?”, interrogated Barney, baffled.

“- Yes, but I had to stop a few years ago when… When we went to foster care…”

Shuri’s jaw tightened as T’challa looked suddenly very interested in his feet.

“- Shall we go then ?”, asked Thor, apparently not noticing the growing discomfort amongst the teenagers.

“- You coming, Nat ?”, gently questioned Clint with his best puppy eyes.

“- Okay, but I cannot be late”, insisted the girl.

“- Deal !”, grinned the two Bartons brothers at the same time.

The seven kids all left, Barney and Thor leading the way. Natasha was silently walking behind the group, finding some comfort in the fact that nobody was paying her attention. That was until Clint noticed her and decided she needed some company. At first, he didn’t speak, he just walked next to her. But the he spoke up:

“- Look… I’m really sorry about hurting you in PE class…”, he apologized.

With a soft smile, the red-headed girl responded:

“- Don’t worry. It’s okay.”

“- No, it’s not”, protested the boy, concerned. “We were finally becoming friends and I ruined it all…”

Natasha stopped walking and looked at Clint seriously.

“- You really want to be my friend…?”

Taken by surprise, Clint stopped too.

“- W… Yes, of course ! You seem like a cool girl, you were a good partner in PE, you…”

“- Okay, okay, stop”, implored Romanov, with big eyes.

They both stood there in silence until Natasha opened her mouth.

“- Thank you”, she whispered, slightly blushing.

With a wide grin, Clint declared:

“- It’s normal ! I think we could be good friends.”

Smiling, the girl was about to talk again when she got interrupted.

“- Hurry up, lovebirds !”, yelled Barney with a shit-eating grin.

“- Shut up, jerk !”, Clint yelled back, laughing.

“- Bitch !”, replied his big brother.

“- Assbutt !”, cried Thor, brandishing both of his fists.

“- And you know Supernatural ?!”, suddenly asked a very excited Barney.

“- I do !”, acquiesced the blond teenager.

“- Oh my god, and here we go…”, mumbled Clint under his breath as the two big brothers started chatting about the TV show.

Soon, the kids arrived at a vacant lot. Some garbage was piled up on one side, but there was still plenty of room where the group could sit.

“- Thor and I found this place at lunchtime !”, declared Barney. “It’s awesome, isn’t it ?”

“- This is a perfect place to play tag !”, rambled Clint excitedly.

“- Oooooor...to have a drink !”, smiled Barney, grabbing a bottle of alcohol that was hidden under the pile of garbage.

Clint’s face suddenly became as white as a sheet and Natasha started feeling nauseous. This was a bad idea.  
Next to them, T’challa and Shuri looked at each other with a disapproving look. Then the black teenager declared:

“- I hope you have fun without us…”, he said on a icy tone before leaving, quickly followed by his sister.

“- Aw, come on, man…”, whined Barney. “Don’t be a pussy…”

“- This is a bad idea, Barn”, insisted Clint, still extremely pale.

“- So what ? You are a pussy too ? That’s what you are telling me, Clint ?”

Natasha looked at him expectantly, hoping the kid would see some reason, but he just shook his head.

“- Of course not… I’m staying.”

“- Yes !”, boomed Thor. “We should all feast and celebrate this new friendship.”

“- Nat ?”, asked the youngest of the Bartons. “You are staying ?”

The young girl looked at the blond kid. He was silently pleading her to stay as Barney was popping the bottle open and started drinking.

“- I… I’m sorry, Clint… I can’t…”

And feeling like the most horrible person in the world, the red-headed girl turned around and started running as fast as she could, to get as far as possible from the vacant lot where the four boys were all taking turns drinking.


End file.
